


Scald

by chewysugar



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Drabble, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, No Smut, Schmoop, Wincest - Freeform, shower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-07-16 18:52:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7280599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chewysugar/pseuds/chewysugar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hot water cleans more than just dirt and blood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scald

Sometimes it just gets to be too much. The cuts and the bruises run through skin and muscle and bone. They pierce the marrow right to the mind and the soul. No matter how much they drink or talk it out it doesn’t get better. No matter how much they fight it out, sometimes the only thing that can take away the aches in their bodies and the pain in their minds is a hot, steaming shower.

Sam runs a hand through his wet hair. The stall is filled with haze and the smell of Sam’s skin, and mildewed tiles. He doesn’t know where he is; it’s just another motel shower. But the bathroom has always been a separate place from the haven of hot water that is just one degree shy from being blistering.

Dirt and blood pool at the drain. Sam watches it through half-closed eyes. He feels the anvil in his brain spiral down the culvert with the filth of the world. All the pain, physical and mental, swirls in a translucent corkscrew of water that is siphoned away to the sewers where he can forget about it.

This is about getting clean, but it’s about so much more. And when another body joins his in the shower, he feels a sense of wholeness. His muscles relax to the point of being spaghetti.

Dean’s chin rests on his shoulder. His arms provide a safety blanket of hard, steely sinew and skin as they wrap around Sam and pull him close. There’s more heat, a different heat than the cascade from the shower head. It’s the gentle heat of two souls that need to intertwine to heal.

There’s no initiation of anything beyond Dean brushing his nose against Sam’s jaw. They don’t need to take it further; this isn’t about sex. Sam’s too bone-weary and soul-tired to even think about that. All he needs—all they need—is the knowledge that there’s someone else, someone who gets it. Someone who’s there to rub the spots that ache and kiss the lips that want to tremble as the eyes let the exhausted tears flow.

Dean presses his lips to Sam’s temple. His body, like Sam’s, is a story written in scars and bruises. Sam turns his head as the water washes over him, and brushes his lips against Dean’s. The touch is a brand between them, a reaffirmation: they’ll always be there for each other, washing away what the hot water can’t.

“Sammy…” Dean’s eyes go soft and extra bright; green grass under a silver moon.

Sam grins, lazy and dreamy and happy for the moment. Dean’s head falls back onto his shoulder. Sam doesn’t have to say anything, because they both know that they love each other in a way that could shatter the universe.

But sometimes it’s just nice to say it.

“Love you too.”


End file.
